I Know This Dog
by Amelia-Williams-Pond
Summary: He wasn't wrong. T for language.


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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" He heard them approach, but he wasn't up to deal with more shit from the local kids. Shit, children today were- well, they were kids. His kids- not his, but the ones he'd loved like his own, all those years ago- had never been that cruel to anyone. ''Crazy Al', his ass. They respected him, the way only children could have. He had been able to ride the coattails of their youthful joy and curiosity, and he'd gone well out of his way to help them keep that childhood magic for as long as he could./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" God, he missed those kids. He hadn't seen nor heard from them in thirteen years. Since their final case, the Sleepy Lake Monster Case./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" It wasn't fit for their final case, not the way it ended. And when the kids left, the magic left, too. This whole damn town started dying. Privately, Al blamed the fact that the kids were cruel to him on that. The town had lost all traces of childhood magic when the Blyton Summer Detective Club left, as if they had taken it with them./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" Fucking kids. He missed them./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" "Fuck off," he croaked at the newcomers, not bothering to look up at them. It didn't matter who they were, Copperseed always announced himself and there were no wheels, it was no aluminum sale. Which left one option- kids./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" There was a brief moment of silence, and he thought perhaps they would leave, but then a wet, pink tongue grazed his knuckles and time stopped./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" He looked up at the Weimaraner in shock. It was the same dog, it had to be, there was no way it could be anything other than Sean./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" "I know this dog."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" But where Sean went, the Blyton Summer Detective Club was never far behind. He sat up, still eyeing the pleased Weimaraner, who was now sitting in front of him. Sean would have to have been dead by now, but… Apparently not./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" For an instant, he composed himself. Maybe it was another Weimaraner, maybe it wasn't theirs. Maybe when he looked up, it wouldn't be them./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" As he took off his cap and blanket, he steeled himself. He hadn't seen these kids in years… They weren't kids anymore, not the way they had been. That part of them in his memories was about to die, if he looked up and it was them. The children they had been would suddenly be irreversibly confined to the recesses of his memory, but… It was worth it, if they were back. Maybe they could bring some of the magic back to Blyton hills./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" If it wasn't them, he- he didn't know what he'd do./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" emFuck it/em./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" He looked up./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" And he stared. Thirteen years of history happened between him and them in that moment. In his mind's eye, he watched them grow from the children they had been, and just like that, it was all too easy to identify the young adults that stood before him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" "Kerri."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" And Andy. And Nate./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" They were home. They were emhome/em./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" Hope and relief flooded through him, throwing a smile- his biggest, brightest smile in years- onto his face as he leapt to his feet./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" Oh, how he'd emlonged/em for this moment. To see them all grown up, as much as it pinched the place in his heart where their smiling teenage faces had lodged for the last thirteen- more like twenty- years./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" Later, when the kids had left again, already bringing the magic back by reopening their last case, it occurred to him that the dog- Tim, they had said- looked far too alike to be a grandson. That just didn't happen in dogs. Not to mention, the dog had seemed to know emhim/em, while it was there./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" He was certain he knew that dog./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" Though in his age, many things had become foggy in his mind's eye, if there was one thing that remained crystal clear, it was the consistently-proclaimed "meddling kids", including their 'dumb dog'./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" Maybe it was their magic. It had already returned a little bit of the sunlight to his home, maybe it made the dogs indistinguishable./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" Heh. Or maybe the dog was immortal./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" Either way. He didn't care, he was glad they had a dog, especially since they were down one. Poor Peter…/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" He shook his head. He hadn't lied when he'd said he was tired./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" He downed the last of his whiskey and laid down, his mind buzzing. Peter, dead. The rest of them, back, even the dog./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" As sleep descended on him like the fog on the shores of Sleepy Lake, his last thought put a smile on his face./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" emIt's nice to be Captain Al again, after all these years…/em/p  
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